Whenever I see garlic chives in the supermarkets, I wondered if Koreans make kimchi with them. One of my favourite Korean bloggers, Maangchi, did indeed have a recipe for them.
As we know, Koreans are famed for their kimchi as well as banchan or side dish. It is a great side to serve together with rice when you are having bulgogi or galbi or seafood.
However, the amount that was used in her recipe would have been too much for me or my family to consume within 2 weeks.
I have had to make my own adjustments based on what is available in the supermarket shelves so that I could try out Maangchi’s recipe for Asian chive kimchi (Buchu-kimchi).
I used the microwave versus the stovetop, as the amount of water that was reduced from the original recipe was too little to be boiled in a regular sized saucepan.
Buchu-kimchi / Chives kimchi
Ingredients: 
100g garlic chives
1/8 cup (30ml) fish sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1 teaspoon sweet potato starch or corn starch or glutinous rice flour
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon sliced onion or shallots
1 tablespoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon roasted white sesame seeds
Method:
- Wash chives and remove any old looking stems or leaves.
- Cut into 2-1/2″ (about 6cm) lengths
- Place chives & fish sauce together in a bowl. Toss to coat the chives with the fish sauce.
- Allow to stand for 30 minutes, tossing every 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the chives from the bowl and place into a sieve. Place sieve over the bowl that the chives were in, to allow the fish sauce to drain back into the bowl.
- Place water in a microwave safe bowl.
- Add the sweet potato flour into the cold water and mix till the flour is dissolved in the water.
- Add the sugar to the cold mixture.
- Microwave on HIGH for 30 secs. Stir the mixture, if it has thickened, then it is ready to be used. If not, microwave at 10 secs interval just enough for the mixture to thicken, like a roux or paste. Set aside to cool.
- When the flour mixture has cooled, add the fish sauce, sliced onion/shallots and chilli flakes. Mix well.
- Add the chives & sesame seeds. Mix well.
- The kimchi can be eaten immediately or kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the fridge
SIMPLY LIVING - One step at a time 
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